Coming to Milan for the Salone, is not just about the Salone. Time spent outside the fair—walking the streets of Zona Tortona, Brera and Lambrate—is equally important.

Each area is an extension of the fair with large and small scale exhibits in old factories, city apartments, on the streets… this is what fulfills the declaration that ‘the city is the Salone’.

Yesterday we walked a few miles in Zona Tortona, today we will see Brera and Lambrate. We know we’ll see many new designs, colors, artwork…but it’s the audience participation projects that draw in the visitor, making us part of the Salone as well. Bravo and mille grazie Milan!

Every year the Milan Salone celebrates what’s new in modern—and this year we congratulate and celebrate its 50th anniversary.

At the same time, Italy is celebrating its 150th anniversary of Unity so attending the opera last night—a supremely Italian experience—meant more than ever.

We live and breath modern—as in casual, approachable, unexpected—with simple, clean lines.

With its deep red velvet curtains and gilded fixtures, Teatro alla Scala is the complete antithesis of what we do. Yet being open to diversity is what creates texture and depth in our lives and homes… there’s room for everyone and everything.

Just when we think it’s presidents and economists who shape our world, we return to Milan for the Salone and remember it’s really the designers and artists.

Designers who solve problems through ingenious design and artists who add beauty—who provoke thought through compelling imagery, music, prose—while making our world more awesome.

We’re constantly thrilled and amazed by their ability to imagine a lamp that’s not just a casing for electric light, a bookcase that not just shelves— but one that’s breathtaking, sexy.

And while we’re extremely grateful to be working with creative and talented designers and artists, we remember the engineers who make their ideas a reality and just how equally important it is to laugh… to take fifteen minutes and four euros to enjoy a toy a designer created for us to play with.

We can choose to think of a swing as rope and a piece of wood or an old tire… or our castle fortress as a simple cardboard box… it’s all in allowing ourselves to imagine possibilities, and to enjoy them.